


Black Snow

by PennywiseTheWritingClown



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: F/M, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-27
Updated: 2019-03-30
Packaged: 2019-12-25 07:43:14
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,824
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18256817
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PennywiseTheWritingClown/pseuds/PennywiseTheWritingClown
Summary: After The Mindflayer was defeated everything went back to normal for Hawkins and it's people. At least so it seems... Until a fire kicks off a mysterious and horrible series of events. What is causing them, and can they be stopped before it's too late? Time is ticking away..





	1. Black Snow

**Author's Note:**

> This is the very first chapter of my very first story! I'm really excited for you to read it, and hopefully enjoy it aswell! Thanks for reading anyway. Please let me know what you think of it. Note: English isn't my primary language, so count on some mistakes... ;)

January 1985. A cold winter evening in Hawkins. Dustin Henderson rushed down the streets on his bike. He was late. Hopefully they didn't start without him. ‘They’ were his best friends: Lucas, Mike and Will. And don’t forget El and Max. And Steve of course. This evening was the first in a long time they were going to play _Dungeons And Dragons_. The last time they played it felt ages ago. It _was_ ages ago. Before Eleven came back and before the Mindflayer became a thing. Things had been weird enough the last months. Now finally with the cold of winter everything was cooling down, going back to normal. As far as it is possible to go back to normal after such events, at least. So Dustin didn’t want to miss a single minute of the fun this evening.

He rode down the main street now, racing through every bend on the road like a professional cyclist who was going for a final sprint. Steve’s house wasn’t far anymore. The streets were empty and dark. It almost felt like Hawkins was deserted at this point. Despite his haste Dustin noticed some of the streetlights weren’t working. That’s probably the reason why it was so dark. The other lights weren’t fully shining either, like some kind of foggy filter stopped the light from fully shining through. The atmosphere felt.. odd. A shiver ran down Dustin’s spine. “ _What the fuck Henderson, man up_ ”, he whispered to himself. He wouldn't like to admit it, but the horrors of previous months definitely left some psychological damage in the form of anxiety and restlessness. But he was coping. Most of the time, at least. Steadily the wind started to increase it’s power. A freezingly cold breeze faced the cycling boy. It felt like it was cutting his face open with a knife. _So cold_. It straight up hurt.

Suddenly, without any particular or logical reason, Dustin started to freak out. This wasn’t right. Something was off. The empty streets, the streetlights, the coldest wind in history. It felt like danger. He tried to go even faster than he was going now. He needed to reach the safety of Steve’s home. Be gone before the danger got to him. At that point it got too much. Dustin closed his eyes. He felt his head spin. Probably hyperventilation, or an anxiety attack or whatever. His speed dropped considerably. In the meantime it had started to snow. This was only noticed by Dustin when he opened his eyes again. _What the hell_. The snow was black. Okay. Now he was sure he was tripping. Snow isn’t black. It’s white. This was all a weird fantasy. It couldn’t be true. He blinked a few times and looked up to the sky. Pitchblack flakes came floating down from an equally dark sky. Even the stars seemed to be faded to a dull grey. Dustin shuddered. Just one last corner and he would be at Steve’s house. Finally.

**2**

‘Where’s Dustin?’ An annoyed Lucas looked through the fogged up window. It wasn’t the first time this evening he had asked that question. In fact, the number of times he had asked it was a lot closer to ten than one. Will sighed. ‘Relax, he’ll be here any minute. No way he would miss a D&D-tournament.’ Lucas slowly backed away from the window. He supposed Will was right. Dustin wouldn’t want to miss a good ol’ game of D&D.

Mike wasn’t even thinking about the lack of Dustin’s presence. His mind was fully occupied with explaining Steve the basics of the game. They were sitting together at the table with Eleven. Ever since the whole Demogorgon-army mess, all the Upside Down crap and the Billy problems Steve had become really close to the group. So close he actually considered them his best friends. Pratically his _only_ friends. When he tore down his badboy image all of his friends fell with it. On top of that he lost his girl Nancy to Jonathan Byers. So he pretty much ended up without anyone. Then Dustin and the others came along. They gave him the chance to belong somewhere again. That’s why he cherised them so much.

“Do you understand it now?” Mike studied Steve’s thinking face, which was aimed at the playing bord lying on the table. A few seconds of silence. Then Steve looked up, His gaze meeting Mike’s. ‘I, I guess so. Well at least the most. You’ll probably need to help me when we’re playing though, because it’s all pretty complicated. All those monsters and wizards and things. Remember I’m new to this nerd stuff.’ He giggled. A small playful smile appeared on his face.

Mike smiled back, nodding. There it was again. That warm sparkling feeling in his stomach. The first time he had felt it was a week ago. Steve had given him a ride home from the arcade. They spent the whole time talking about the Upside Down, and the terrors it had caused in Hawkins. Mike had thanked Steve for all of his help during those dark moments. Steve had thanked Mike for accepting him as one of the group. He had even shed a little tear. That’s how grateful he was. Mike had looked at him the same way as he did now, with that same warm feeling rising up inside him. He knew Steve didn’t care much for _Dungeons & Dragons_, or _Star Wars_ , or _Lord of The Rings_. But he was willing to _make_ himself like it, just for Mike and the rest. ‘ _Damn, he really cares about us_.’

The doorbell rang. Lucas shot up from the couch, on which he was sitting with Will and his girlfriend Max. ‘Dustin’s here!’ In a few seconds he rushed to the door like a maniac, earning an eyeroll from the redheaded girl. The door swung open. ‘Finally Dustin, what took you so long?’ Dustin responded with a scoff, a little harsher than he intended to. “Hello Lucas, nice to see you too.” He was still out of breath after his intense bike ride, very relieved to have made it to Steve’s home. Out of the darkness. Lucas realized his rude comment, immediately feeling a little guilty about greeting his friend in such a passive agressive way. ‘Well you’re here, that’s what matters. Come in!’ Lucas barely finished his sentence and Dustin was already in the door opening. Before closing the door he looked back into the dark one more time. The snow was white. Like it _always_ has been.


	2. It Begins

‘Sweetie, breakfast is ready!’ Karen Wheeler was standing below the stairs. The rest of the Wheeler family was already present at the dinner table. They were all waiting for Mike. The boy was still laying in bed. In fact he had just opened his eyes. ‘I’ll be there in a minute!’ he shouted. His voice was still hoarse and raspy, not yet fully awake. Mike yawned and looked around his room, observing the Darth Vader poster hanging on the wall next to the door. The sun was fighting hard to find an opening between the curtains. One ray of light managed to get through. It fell exactly on the helmet of the Star Wars icon. _‘Vader’s enjoying the spotlight’_  , Mike thought. His own joke made him smile a little. He was in a great mood today. Last night had been amazing. They played a long campaign of D&D, ate many snacks and had lots of fun. Steve wasn’t as bad at the game as Mike expected him to be.

 _Steve_ … he felt his thoughts trail off to his sister’s ex-boyfriend. He didn’t really want to, but his mind seemed to have a will of its own. He just couldn’t help it. _Why_ did he keep thinking about Steve? It's not like he had a crush or something, right? Of course not, he's not gay. _'I have a girlfriend for fuck's sake.'_   Mike’s thoughts were interrupted by his shouting mother. ‘Sweetie we’re starting!’ Karen Wheeler’s words finally gave him the strength to push the Steve-related thoughts back into their cage. Lord knows how long before they would break free again. Mike jumped out of bed, grabbing a bunch of clothes from the drawer. Shower could wait till after breakfast.

‘Morning!’ When Mike entered the living room all of his family was already eating, just like his mother announced. Well, eating wasn’t really the right word. More like occasionally chewing a bit while concentrating on something more important. Mike's greeting was met with the faces of Nancy, Holly, mom and dad hardly looking at him and mumbling something similar back. Mike frowned. Usually it was a lot more lively at the Wheeler dinner table. Now it was quiet. The only thing to be heard was a voice from the radio. All sitting family members were staring at the small black object standing on the edge of the table. It almost seemed like they were _hypnotised_ by the voice coming from it. Even little Holly was quiet and not really paying attention to the food on her plate. The atmosphere felt rather gloomy. Before Mike was about to joke about someone being murdered he took a sec to listen to the distorted voice.

_“…Thus far the death of one person has been confirmed. The police is still investigating the tragic incident. A 17 year old male has been arrested.”_

Mike was glad he didn’t make the joke. ‘What happened?’ Nancy was the first to snap out of the trance. She looked up at her brother. ‘A house on Dooling Street burned down last night. Someone died in the fire.’ The shock was still visable on her face. If this had happened in New York or LA not many would’ve cared that much. Another day another tragedy. But this wasn’t some massive metropole. This was Hawkins. And in Hawkins stuff like this didn’t happen.  _Never_.

‘What? Why would anyone do that?’

‘They don’t know yet. Probably just random. The guy they arrested doesn’t seem to have any connection to the victim at all...’

‘That’s fucked up.’

Karen Wheeler turned her head towards her son. ‘Watch your language Michael!’ Nancy chuckled a little. Her brother, subtle as ever. Without saying anything smart in return Mike joined the table.

**2**

Mike had finished showering, his hair still damp. The news of the fire still buzzed around in his head. Who would do such a thing? He was walking back to his room when he heard Lucas shouting through the walkie-talkie. ‘Mike are you there? Are you there Mike?? Please answer me!’ It sounded quite desperate. Now closer to running than walking Mike made it to his room. With a swift motion he grabbed the walkie. ‘I’m here.’ He was expecting a lot of things Lucas would say, but what Lucas _did_ say caught him completely by surprise. ‘Max’ brother burned down a house last night.’


End file.
